Monday, 26 March 2012

Eleven ladies set out from the carpark at the end of Hippodromelaan in Sterrebeek today and walked at a brisk pace through the fields between Sterrebeek and Moorsel. The weather was perfect and the countryside looked radiant under a wonderful blue sky. It was a marvellous day to go walking. At the end of the walk we decided to take our refreshments at 'Le Prince Rose' cafe on the square where we had parked our cars. The staff there were friendly and most people preferred to go there rather than to 'The Yearling' cafe where complaints had been made on a previous occasion about mud on our boots! Luckily there was no mud today so the problem didn't arise. Thanks to the weather and the lovely countryside, a good time was had by all!

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

Thirteen 'lucky' ladies joined the pretty Leefdaal walk on a beautiful afternoon. The route took us by Leefdaal Castle and along the banks of the River Voer. We posed for a photograph in front of St. Verona's Chapel. It was a bonus that it was virtually a mud free afternoon. We were joined by Sheila in the cafe.

Friday, 16 March 2012

A small group of us (by recent standards!) met at Parc Station for a lovely sunny walk around Brussels. This was a slight variation on the Christmas walk, but was broadly the same.

We set off through the parc, and stopped at the Folon statue which is a memorial to children who have disappeared. This was our first reminder that today is a national day of mourning for Belgium.

We then crossed Place Royale and took a quick look at the Musical Instrument Museum before making our way to Sablon where we toured the chocolate shops (sadly many were shaded because of the sun). Then up to Parc Egmont where we posed by the Peter Pan Statue which represents friendship between the children of Great Britain and Belgium.

We then crossed Place Louise and walked down to the Marolle area, where we visited the beautiful art nouveau social housing and wandered up and down various streets admiring the architecture and bande dessine.

Then we walked up past Place de la Chapelle and crossed over to see the cafe where Magritte used to meet his friends. Then we passed a large piece of the old city wall before descending to the Mannekin Pis: a black armband on the little statue brought us all up short again, and we couldn't bring ourselves to take a photo there today.

From there it wasn't far to La Becasse, where we met up with Sheila's group and many of us sampled the speciality beer: lambic, and we had a very friendly waiter - whose twin brother later arrived and gave us all a bit of a surprise!

This is the map of the walk - our route is marked in red ... for those of you who want to find that material shop I wouldn't let you visit, it was in rue des Capucins!

About fifteen eager ladies gathered at the Tram Museum to be led by Deborah and Cathy round Woluwe Park. It was a very pleasant afternoon to be out walking and there were signs of spring approaching as there were buds appearing on some of the trees. We had a good 'work out' as there were some inclines in the park to get the heart pumping. The end of the walk wound through very attractive residential streets where we met up in the cafe with Sheila and three other ladies who started a bit later. Thank you Deborah and Cathy for a very pleasant afternoon.

Monday, 5 March 2012

Ten walkers was not a bad turnout on a day when many will have opened the curtains and decided it was not a day for outdoor activity (you know who you are, ladies!). Anne's route led us up hill and down dale - though somehow there seemed to be more up than down :) - with our new leader setting an invigorating pace all the way.

Afterwards we enjoyed a hot drink, and the already traditional warm welcome, at the "new" café across the road.

Friday, 2 March 2012

About 20 walkers met for Terry's new walk on a very grey Friday afternoon. Thankfully the rain didn't materialise and the temperature was not too cold, so we all enjoyed our exercise. We met up with Sheila and her group of walkers at the Brasserie des Etangs Mellaerts after the walk.